Chapter 167

Judy’s POV

Sammy and I went through the front foyer of the resort, where she saw Tyler dragging Nan. My heart was pounding against my rib cage at the thought of something happening to her. I never trusted Tyler, and I should have tried harder to get her to cut ties with him, but I stupidly didn’t listen to my intuition.

My sense of urgency to get to my best friend was real. The sun hadn’t set yet, so at least there was enough daylight where it would be easy to spot them. I just hoped it wasn’t too late when we got there.

“That stupid bitch,” I heard a familiar voice saying as soon as we got outside.

I glanced at Sammy, and we both had identical frowns marring our faces. We looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“I can’t believe she had the audacity to leave you.”

“And look at your face,” another familiar voice said. “We should seriously sue them for this.”

“Just forget it,” a male voice growled, anger evident in his tone. “I won’t let either of them get away with this.”

I think I knew those voices well, and if I was right, then I’ll find out where Nan is.

When I rounded the corner, I paused when I saw Mac, Kelsey, and Tyler.

Tyler was badly beaten to the point where I barely recognized him. Though it was evident that his wolf was healing him as they spoke. Kelsey was still applying bandages and cream to his face, though, while Mac paced back and forth, furious.

Mac was actually the one who saw me first, and her eyes narrowed, a deadly look in them.

“Are you here to finish the job?” She spat. “Hadn’t my cousin gone through enough?”

“Not sure,” I shot back, my eyes locked on Tyler’s swollen gaze. “Has he?”

I wasn’t sure what he did, but something in me was saying he deserved it.

“Your bitch of a friend got someone to beat the shit out of him,” Kelsey hissed, her eyes red with fury, much like Mac’s eyes. “Who’s going to pay for his medical expenses? We should seriously sue.”

“My friend?” I asked, letting out a breath. “Are you talking about Nan?”

“Who else?” Kelsey growled.

My heart fell into my stomach; something happened with Nan.

“What did he do to her?” I asked, my tone growing deep and with a hint of deadliness in it.

“Nothing,” Tyler spat, clearly lying.

I let out a growl, my wolf surging forward, which she rarely did.

“If I find out you’re lying and something happened to her, I’ll come back and finish the job,” I hissed.

Before they could say anything more, I stormed away with Sammy right behind me.

“That was awesome,” Sammy whispered, her eyes wide as she glanced over her shoulder at the three simmering assholes. “So, do you have any idea where Nan could be?”

“No,” I said, my body shaking with pent-up anger. “But I’ll find out.”

I glanced at my watch on my wrist and cursed. I only had a couple of hours until my watch duties tonight. I should have spent this time resting because it was an overnight shift, but instead, I was walking around aimlessly, looking for my missing best friend.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?” A light-hearted tone asked, filling the silent space as I started to walk towards a garden area.

“Part of me hoped that you would…” Another voice, I knew immediately to be Nan’s, replied.

I furrowed my brows.

Who was she talking to?

“I’m sorry things got so messy,” the man murmured. “I probably should have talked to you more. But I guess now is a good time to talk. It was a good idea to come to the garden; it’s nice here.”

“Better than the stuffy hotel suite,” Nan said softly.

I inched closer, trying to get a read on the guy’s voice. I motioned for Sammy to keep quiet, and she nodded, also intrigued.

“It wasn’t stuffy, but fresh air was a good idea. The conversation got heavy, and I was having trouble breathing.”

Nan let out a breathy laugh but swallowed it almost immediately.

“Yeah,” she breathed. “I was also having trouble breathing.”

The small talk was awkward and didn’t come easily to them. I’m assuming that the man was the one who beat Tyler till he barely looked like himself.

I wondered what could have provoked that, but then I heard the guy laugh lightly as he said, “In a way, I’m glad I ran into you when I did for two reasons. One, that guy was a jerk, and who knows what he would have done if I hadn’t shown up… and two, I wasn’t sure where I was going to stay if I didn’t find either you or Judy.”

“Wait…” I said loud enough to interrupt their conversation just as Nan let out another soft laugh. Sammy looked at me with wide eyes as I marched around the corner, my hands on my hips. “Chester??”

Chester and Nan sat on the crystal fountain in the middle of the resort garden, their eyes wide when they saw me. Chester had Nan’s hand in his, and he was playing with her fingers absentmindedly.

I hadn’t spoken to Chester since we arrived last week; though I didn’t think he would, I was almost hoping he would appear and try to get Nan back.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, staring between him and Nan.

Nan had a slight blush on her cheeks, and I had to fight to keep from smiling.

“What do you think I’m doing here?” He asked, raising his brows. “You gave me an address; did you think I wouldn’t use it?”

“You couldn’t wait until we returned?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest. I approved of him being here, but at the same time, I knew Nan came here to escape him and get some space.

I tried to gauge her reaction, but she was hard to read.

“No,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “It couldn’t wait.”

I stared at him for a long time, seeing the sincerity in his eyes, before turning to Nan.

“Can we talk?” I asked her; she lifted her gaze to meet mine and then nodded; a flicker of relief went through her eyes, and I knew she was grateful for the distraction. I told Sammy I’d be back before I grabbed Nan by the hand and pulled her along with me to a private area, away from wandering ears.

The second we were alone, I turned to face her. After a beat of silence, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug, one I knew she needed desperately. She waited no time, hugging me back, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

“I can’t tell what’s happening, Nan. Are you happy or sad?”.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m terrified. I’m not sure why he’s even here. He saw Tyler put his hands on me, and then he lost it… nearly killed him. I brought him to the suite so I could clean up, and we started talking. I asked him if he wanted to reject me, and he straight up said he doesn’t know.”

My eyes grew wide as a wave of anger washed through me. How could he say such a thing to her?

I pulled away from her but kept my hands on her arms; tears were spilling out of her eyes.

“Oh, Nan,” I whispered, not sure what more to say.

She sniffled and wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand.

“After that, the conversation kind of got awkward, and we were both having trouble breathing. I found this garden the other day, and I thought it would be a nice place to continue this conversation. So, here we are… making awkward small talk and not discussing the real problems. That’s pretty much when you arrived.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my heart breaking for my best friend. I was going to kill Chester for doing this to her. He might have been my friend, but right now, he was the guy who was destroying my best friend, and I wasn’t okay with that.

“He also felt the need to tell me that he slept with Harper before coming here,” she added, rolling her misty eyes.

“He what?” I asked, my mouth agape. There’s no way he had that much audacity; seriously, what was wrong with him?

She nodded, giving a pathetic excuse of a laugh as she shook her head like she was trying to shake away the tears.

“At least he’s honest,” I tried to make a poor attempt at a light-hearted joke.

“Yeah, I guess,” she sighed “But still…”

I nodded, understanding what she was saying and where she was coming from. There was a long stretch of silence where we were both lost in thought for a moment.

“Can I ask you something?” She suddenly asked.

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

“If I do reject him, or he rejects me…. do you think I would ever find love again?” She suddenly asked. “Or would it always hurt like this? Because it really fucking hurts right now, and he didn’t even reject me yet.”

I nibbled on my lips and stared at the ground. I knew she was truly asking me because I had gone through a rejection, although mine was different.

“It’ll be easier for you because he didn’t mark you yet,” I told her. “In my case with Ethan, I had been marked by him for 2 years. Then, he cheated on me and left me for another woman. It was devasting for my wolf, and because I was marked, I could feel it every time he was intimate with her or anyone. It was painful, and my wolf went away for a while. She’s back now and stronger than ever, though… however, whenever I’m around him, it still hurts her. I don’t know if that’ll ever go away, but when I’m not around him, it’s like he doesn’t exist to either of us. I don’t know if that helps you or anything, but you aren’t marked, so it shouldn’t be as difficult. As for finding love again…. Yes, I think it’s possible to love someone who isn’t a mate.”

She pondered my words for a long while, nodding and sighing in response.

And then she asked another question, one I wasn’t really expecting.

“Do you believe in second chance mates?”